The Virgin in the Ice: The Sixth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael

It is winter 1139 and the tranquil life in the monastery gardens in Shrewsbury is again interrupted by violence. Raging civil war has sent refugees fleeing north from Worcester. Among them are two orphans from a noble family, a boy of thirteen and an eighteen year old girl of great beauty, with their companion, a young Benedictine nun. But the trio have disappeared somewhere in the wild countryside. Cadfael fears for these three lost lambs, but his skills are needed to tend to a wounded monk, found naked and bleeding at the roadside. Why this holy man has been attacked and what his fevered ravings reveal soon give brother Cadfael a clue to the fate of the missing travellers and he sets out to find them. The search will lead him to discover a chilling and terrible murder, and a tale of passion gone astray.

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About the Author:

Ellis Peters is one of the pseudonyms of Edith Pargeter who wrote several books under her own name and also Peter Benedict, Jolyon Carr and John Redfern. She was the recipient of the Crime Writers Association and the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award. She died in 1995.

From AudioFile:

Brother Cadfael solves the murder of a nun and is delighted to learn more about his own past. This chronicle ranks as a favorite in the series. Vanessa Benjamin carries forth Blackstone's tradition of matching the gender of the narrator to the author, rather than to the main character. When the genders of hero and narrator don't match, one gets a more old-fashioned sense of being read to, rather than hearing a performance. Benjamin relies strictly on the drama inherent in the text, subtly underscoring it with pacing and emphasis. Her minimalistic vocal shifts when reading dialogue are initially distracting, but they quickly fade into the background, as she means them to do. S.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine